Basketball coaching staff complete with hiring of Fulford

Fulford went 138-17 as head coach at Huntington Prep.

The Missouri basketball coach finalized his coaching staff Monday with the hiring of Rob Fulford.

Fulford spent the past five seasons as the head coach at Huntington Prep in Huntington, West Virginia. Perennially one of the top high school programs in the country, Fulford went 138-17 in his time at Huntington Prep.

“Rob is obviously an outstanding coach and he won at an incredible level at Huntington Prep,” Anderson said in a press release. “He is well-respected by his peers and will be a great asset to our program.”

Formerly the coach at Central Missouri, a critique of Anderson when he was hired to be Mizzou’s head coach was that he may not be able to recruit at high-level Division I. Fulford sent many of his players at Huntington Prep to major Division I programs.

Andrew Wiggins, a former Kansas player and a possible No. 1 selection in Thursday’s NBA Draft, played for Fulford at Huntington Prep. Two former Missouri players, Stefan Jankovic and Negus Webster-Chan, also played for Fulford at Huntington Prep.

“One of Rob’s biggest strengths is his ability to build relationships with his young men,” Anderson said. “He gets the most out of his players because of those strong relationships and that’s exactly what we were looking for as we went about completing our staff.”

Fulford leaves behind two class of 2015 recruits at Huntington Prep who ESPN ranks in the top 50 in the country, Thomas Bryant and Montaque Gill-Caesar.

According to ESPN, Gill-Caesar has a scholarship offer from Mizzou; Bryant does not.

“I want to thank Coach Anderson, (Missouri Director of Athletics) Mike Alden and University administration for this incredible opportunity,” Fulford said in the press release. “I wasn’t looking to leave Huntington Prep but after speaking with Coach Anderson and seeing his vision for the program, this opportunity was too good to pass up and I’m excited to be a Missouri Tiger.”